[4][3][5] In October 1944, the anarchist poet and gallery owner Gérard (Geert) van Bruaene [nl] founded the current café with his partner Marie-Jeanne Cleren.

[1][5] The painter René Magritte, the novelist Louis Paul Boon, and the cartoonist Hergé were all at one time regulars.

[2] It was also a meeting place for artists in the CoBrA avant-garde movement such as Christian Dotremont and Pierre Alechinsky,[4] and in 1955, the writer Hugo Claus held his wedding reception there.

[1][5] The building is owned by the Public Centre for Social Welfare of the City of Brussels, and partially sublet by AB InBev to the association that runs the café.

[2][5] The café, which went bankrupt in 2006, was taken over by a group of friends who set up a limited liability cooperative company, and reopened on 12 October 2007 after a year of restoration and renovation.